Montclair district goes afer graffiti vandals

Felice Harrison, assistant to the schools superintendent, discusses incidents of vandalism on school property at a recent Board of Education meeting.

The Montclair School District has would-be vandals in its crosshairs.

District administrators said they are stepping up efforts to discourage their 6,500 students from defacing school property, beginning with a renewed campaign to remind teens attending Montclair High School that acts of graffiti can get them into serious trouble.

"Graffiti and vandalism are no longer looked upon as just youthful pranks," Assistant to the Schools Superintendent Felice Harrison told The Montclair Times. "When there is damage to school property, and there is a cost attached to it, then it has to be reported to law enforcement by the district."

The stepped-up emphasis on preventing vandalism in schools comes in the wake of its recently released annual violence and vandalism report which shows the district suffered a dozen incidents of damage to property during the 2011-2012 academic year.

"We want to make sure that those who destroy school property are held accountable," said Montclair High School Principal James Earle. "We don't hesitate to report incidents to the police."

Most of the cases involved graffiti at either Montclair High School or its Woodman Field complex. They came after the district had shown steady progress in eliminating vandalism. From a recent high of six cases during the 2008-2009 school year, the number of cases involving damage to school property dropped to three in 2009-2010 and just a single case in 2010-2011.

At the same time, township and state education and law enforcement officials are taking a tougher, no-nonsense approach toward school vandalism.

"Defacing school property is a crime, and violators could be arrested," said Township Attorney Ira Karasick.

"A lot of kids think that it's not that big a deal," Karasick said. "But it's not a prank anymore. You expose yourself to a lot of potential legal penalties."

Karasick said there are municipal ordinances in Montclair, as well as state statutes, that carry criminal penalties — including fines and jail time for minors or adults who damage or destroy public property.

"It's not just an internal matter in the schools," noted the attorney.

According to Harrison, even low-level damage can reach the threshold where the incident has to be reported to authorities.

"It doesn't have to be malicious," she said. "If you write 'Go Mounties' on the side of the field house, and there is a cost attached in getting that off, that's the kind of thing that will get reported" to the Montclair police.

"If you want to get that massage out, then write it on a piece of paper or put it on canvas and then post it," she said. "But don't write on the wall."

Harrison said the district is "being proactive to make sure that vandalism doesn't increase," noting that the district's 11 schools are covered by security officers and surveillance cameras.

"We're also going to be extra vigilant in repairing and restoring any damage," Earle said. "That's one way to stop the people who do the damage."

Earle said frank classroom discussions on the consequences of vandalism is another.

"We teach students to respect their community and their home environment," Earle said. "And having them see this school as their home certainly helps with that."

"Once they see school in that way, they don't vandalize it or deface it," the MHS principal said. "We've been spreading that message."

Earle said the campaign has shown results with a growing number of students stepping forward to let MHS faculty members and administrators know when someone damages school property.

"We've gotten more reports from students who have either heard about an incident, or saw something, or know who did it," he said.